Essentials Cleric

[Kobold Avenger]

I think one of the first places we might see classes like the one in the essentials series outside of that series would be "Heroes of Shadow". It seems like a good place to include subclasses when they (re-)introduce the Shadow Classes.

 

[Zaran]

One thing I noticed is that this Warpriest doesn't get Ritual Casting as a free feat, which probably explains what "Resurrection" is...

Anyways I like that classes are getting features over the levels. It was something I liked about classes in 3e and Pathfinder. It just feels more special if you get something that's more unique than just another power, which is something that was sort of missing from 4e.

I doubt the Essentials stuff has Rituals in it. Those class features at different levels will be to replace Rituals. Besides giving clerics shields I see no use in this new build. I also note that they didn't give the war priest the Healer's Lore feature.

 

[Herschel]

Old builds will be more flexible. The listed Warpriest seems to have all Encounter powers pre-chosen, determined by Domain

Kind of like the Styles listed in Martial Power 2.

 

[FireLance]

I also note that they didn't give the war priest the Healer's Lore feature.

Yeah, but it looks like it will get a level 1 utility power from the domain, possibly to replace it.

Besides giving clerics shields I see no use in this new build.

I see it as a way to give clerics more tightly focused flavor through the use of domains. Now being a Sun cleric or a Storm cleric affects your at-will attacks, your channel divinity power, and your level 1 utility, and you have to make a deliberate decision to swap out your default encounter powers.

 

[twilsemail]

It's funny that the class that has always been the Daily power class since first edition will not have daily powers in Essentials but the Cleric still does.

Source?

I don't remember reading that, but I'm a goldfish.

 

[thecasualoblivion]

On an interesting note, the Essentials Rules Compendium is listed as 320 pages, and Heroes of the Fallen Lands which covers Fighter, Cleric, Wizard, Rogue and the races Human, Elf, Eladrin, Dwarf and Halfling is a whopping 368 pages.

Makes you wonder what is in these books.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

Source?

I don't remember reading that, but I'm a goldfish.

This is what the Countdown article said:

Taking a cue from Player’s Handbook 3, we broke down the basic math of character classes in a similar manner. This time, though, we looked at eliminating daily powers and simplifying encounter powers. That approach would allow us to create a character class that is simpler to use while still offering a compelling array of choices during play.

Aside from the rules updates introduced over the past few months, of which the relevant pieces are included in the Rules Compendium, little (if anything) on your character sheet has changed. The only real changes rest in wizard encounter spells (they have miss effects now), and those changes are almost entirely additive in nature. Your burning hands spell is the same spell as before, except now it deals half damage on a miss.

Here's how I interpret it:

"We figured out we could change the formula in PHB3(by getting rid of Encounter powers for some classes and replacing it with a different mechanic), so we took at look at what kind of changes we could make to the already existing classes. One of the things we looked at was removing Dailies for some of the classes since we figured having classes without dailies might be easier to understand for new players. In the process, we determined that Wizard Encounter powers should have miss effects for balance reasons. So we will errata the previously existing Wizard Encounter powers in October to have these."

The article never actually says that Wizards will not have Daily powers in Essentials. It says that they are looked at whether they could remove Dailies in Essentials. Which classes(or subclasses) do not have Dailies is never said.

He's assuming Wizards don't have Dailies because of the errata to their Encounter powers.

 

[Echohawk]

On an interesting note, the Essentials Rules Compendium is listed as 320 pages, and Heroes of the Fallen Lands which covers Fighter, Cleric, Wizard, Rogue and the races Human, Elf, Eladrin, Dwarf and Halfling is a whopping 368 pages.

Makes you wonder what is in these books.

Those are both trade paperback sized, so 320/368 pages isn't as much real estate as it would be for full-sized hardcovers.

 

[Herschel]

The ony thing that makes me sad is that strength will no be cleric essential attribute anymore.

Except it's only not "essential" for that build. And fits prefectly in to the traditional Dwrf wheelhouse of stats.

 

[Stumblewyk]

On an interesting note, the Essentials Rules Compendium is listed as 320 pages, and Heroes of the Fallen Lands which covers Fighter, Cleric, Wizard, Rogue and the races Human, Elf, Eladrin, Dwarf and Halfling is a whopping 368 pages.

Makes you wonder what is in these books.

Well, it is a paperback, and I wish I could find the info to back me up, I swear I saw something that described the Essentials line of books being smaller dimensions than the "standard" D&D line of hardback books.